A benefit cheat who swindled more than £11,000 from taxpayers told a crown court judge that he was not a fraudster but had instead been "fitted up" by the security services.

Okechukwu Ezeh of Atheldene Road, Wandsworth, claimed he had been set up by spies from MI5 and MI6 when he stood trial at Kingston Crown Court, accused of making a false housing benefit claim.

The court had heard that Ezeh's passport had been used as proof of identity to make a benefit claim for financial help in paying his rent.

But in reality he was not paying any rent and as a result he cheated £11,416 in fraudulent benefit claims between 2004 and 2006.

His crime was uncovered when council fraud investigators began a routine re-check on his application and discovered that his rent claim was bogus.

But in court Ezeh denied one count of deception and claimed instead that MI5 and MI6 had framed him. He said that the security services were also responsible for a string of previous offences that he had been wrongly convicted of.

However his claims were rejected by the jury, and he was convicted on Friday of obtaining property by deception. He was jailed for 10 months.

The council has also secured a county court judgement for the debt and this will be enforced when Ezeh is released from custody, to ensure that taxpayers are repaid the full amount he swindled.

Anyone with information about benefit fraud can call the council's benefit investigation service on 020 8871 7067. Alternatively you can call the fraud hotline for free on 0800 328 6340.